BatmanNightwing Museum Mystery
by legoleo25
Summary: Batman and Nightwing go to investigate a stolen item at a museum.


Batman and Nightwing in The Case of The Emerald Leaf.

By legoleo25

One evening Batman was patrolling Gotham city in his Batmobile. It was a sleek black vehicle with decorative batwings, tinted mirrors, and all kinds of handy gadgets. He was doing his nightly patrol, when he heard someone say,

"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt, but your computer is saying that the alarm at Gotham Museum is going off." This was Alfred, Batman's faithful butler that took care of his alter ego's house, Wayne Manor. Alfred also helped take care of The Batcave, Batman's headquarters, fixed any broken gadgets or vehicles, and often helped alert Batman of problems or robberies.

"Okay, I'll check it out," said Batman

Batman zoomed through traffic as fast as possible. Most people let him pass, since his vehicle was easily recognizable as the Batmobile. He quickly got to the museum, and he observed that the alarm was still going off, making a loud sound and flashing red. A window was broken and the broken glass was lying in the damp grass outside the facility.

Batman went inside. When he entered the museum he saw a long hallway with an open door at the end. He looked around. There were several rooms on either side, useful for quick hiding spots. A chandelier hung overhead. He made a few quick calculations in his head and deduced that it could support his weight if necessary. He looked at the door on the end. There was loud shouting coming from the room, so he went there first. He drew a Batarang, just in case.

The main room was total chaos. Some men and women were trying to find their screaming children, while others were standing on their tip toes trying to see what was going on. About 10 security guards were ineffectively trying to calm the group. Some guards were shouting, and others were trying to find children, but no one was listening. In the middle of the room batman could just make out a shattered display with nothing in it. Odd. Batman asked one of the guards what was wrong, but he couldn't hear the guards reply. He called Nightwing, who was, in general, better at crowd control, on the intercom built into his mask. Nightwing showed up soon after.

Nightwing, formerly Robin, wasn't quite like a sidekick, though he worked with Batman a lot. Batman preferred to get the job done as quickly as possible while drawing little public attention. Nightwing, however, had no problem putting on a little bit of a show. He was in a circus as a kid, but could still focus on more important matters. After seeing what was happening, he tossed a small bomb into the air. He hit the detonate button on his belt, and the bomb made a loud bang and set off a small explosive, but didn't actually damage anything.

"EVERYONE, BE QUIET!" He shouted, and everyone stopped and stared at him.

"NOW AS I'M SURE YOU'VE HEARD, I'M NIGHTWING AND THIS IS BATMAN. He gestured towards Batman. "WE NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY WHATS GOING ON. SO I NEED ALL THE CHILDREN TO GO TO THAT SIDE OF THE ROOM!" He pointed to the left side of the room. The children obeyed. "GREAT, NOW I NEED ALL THE PARENTS TO GO QUIETLY TO THE LEFT SIDE AND STAND WITH YOUR CHILDREN WHILE WE GET THIS SORTED OUT. OKAY? Everyone listened and did exactly as Nightwing had said.

"NOW," he said, turning to the security guards, and lowering his tone. "What happened?"

"Come with me," said one of the security guards. Just then Commissioner Gordon, Gotham's police commissioner, and several other police officers came into the giant room. Gordon and Batman often worked together, and even though Batman wasn't legally allowed to fight crime since he's not a cop, Commissioner Gordon knew that Batman was as good as any police officer, if not better.

The guard took Batman, Nightwing, and Commissioner Gordon back down the hallway, took a left, up a flight of stairs. Then he led them into a dark room with lots of screens and a large control panel. This was the control room. After everyone sat down, the guard began the story.

"So here's what happened" he said. "I was sitting up here, watching the cameras, and everything was fine, when all of the sudden all my screens went blank. Not knowing what to do, I ran downstairs. Everything still seemed to be normal. I told some of the other guards what had happened. They came up here to inspect the cameras. I was still in the hallway, when all of the sudden a guy wearing a ski mask in all black clothing broke through the window and ran to the main room. I ran after him and was just in time to see him smash the glass surrounding the Emerald Leaf, stuff it into a bag, and run towards me. He ran into me, and knocked me to the ground and just kept running. I got up and tried to follow him, but he was too fast. I followed him down the main hallway, and he made a sharp turn towards the main entrance. By the time I made the turn he was gone."

"Did you actually see him leave?" asked Batman.

"No, he was just gone. For all I know he could still be hiding in the building as we speak."

"Can you describe the clothes he was wearing in more detail?" asked Commissioner Gordon.

"Well, he had a black ski mask, a black shirt and dark jeans on."

"Now you said that he smashed through the glass. Was he holding some kind of weapon or did he use his bare hands?" asked Batman. He had observed the glass, and it appeared to be pretty thick, though he hadn't done a thorough scan.

The guard thought for moment. I don't remember seeing a weapon; though he moved so fast I suppose he could have had brass knuckles, or maybe a hammer."

"Okay thank you for your time," said Commissioner Gordon. "Do any of you have any more questions?" he asked, looking at Batman and Nightwing.

"No," said Nightwing

"Actually, I have one more question," said Batman. "Was this guy very . . . well big?"

The guard grinned.

"Yes," he said as though he was very proud of himself for noticing. "He was rather large."

Batman, Nightwing, and Commissioner Gordon took several people who had been at the bank to the police station to interview them. After they were done, Batman was satisfied with the story. No one else saw the thief enter the building, and the tourists didn't know about the security cameras shutting down, but the stories seemed to match up. The only odd thing was that everyone else said right away how large this person was. Why hadn't the first guard mentioned that right away? As Batman was leaving the police station commissioner Gordon got a call on his walkie talkie. After listening for a moment his jaw dropped. He listened for a minute, then turned to Batman and Nightwing and said; "My men found the Emerald Leaf. And we think we found the crook!"

Batman and Nightwing went with Commissioner Gordon back to the museum. Behind the museum were wild shrubs poking out from gaps in between the cement. There was yellow police tape surrounding the area. Batman ducked under the tape and walked over to a bush. There, under the leaves, was the emerald leaf. It was rather thick, and large, and Batman was surprised to see that it was in perfect condition. It sure didn't look like someone had just smashed glass above it and then made a hasty escape and shoved it into a bush.

Batman also noticed that several police officers were trying to restrain a rather large man in handcuffs, who was shouting. Batman couldn't make out the entire conversation, but he did hear the man saying things like, "I want a lawyer," and "I was just hired today." Another curious thing was that this man was in gardening cloths, with thick gloves and boots, and even green overalls. The man had long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and he had a strong jaw, black eyes, a small nose, and a vain bulging in his forehead. Even though he was in handcuffs, the police were having a very tough time restraining him. This man clearly was very strong and could have probably broken through the glass using only a small weapon which he could have easily gotten rid of. Batman didn't help the police officers, because he didn't know who this man was or what he had done wrong. For all he knew, the police officers could be the real crooks and the man they were restraining could be innocent.

While Batman was observing all this, Nightwing was talking to Commissioner Gordon and a thin man that Batman didn't recognize. The man was tall and lean, and wore a black bowler hat with a green stripe above the rim. He had an umbrella, but he leaned on it like a cane. Though Batman didn't recognize his face, his general posture looked familiar. When they were done talking Nightwing and Batman walked over to the front of the museum where they were out of earshot.

"Okay Nightwing. So what happened?" asked Batman,

"Well, here's what Gordon told me. The police officers were searching the bank inside and out, using flashlights because; well obviously its dark outside, and something reflected from in the bush. The police officers went to investigate and sure enough is was the Emerald Leaf.

"Who was the guy that the police officers were restraining?" Asked Batman

"Oh that was Tike Foli. He was hired by the museum earlier today to get rid of those wild shrubs behind the building. The police found him attending to the shrubs when they spotted the Emerald Leaf. The police also found a black outfit under a bigger bush in Tike's size. They think he took it then put the emerald leaf under a bush to hide it, then would take it when he cut down the bush."

"That sounds reasonable," said Batman. "Who was the man that was talking with you and Gordon?"

"Oh that was a new detective Gordon hired a couple days ago. Gordon said that though he doesn't look like much, but he's a genius. He passed the test Gordon gives all the new detectives in under a minute! He's got a weird last name. It's like Droom, or no, Drum. That's it, his name is Detective Drum.

"Okay, but something is bothering me. I can't figure out what, but this just doesn't seem to fit. Why would Tike break through the glass when the museum was open? He could've just slipper through the open door. It would've drawn less attention to himself. Hmm."

Batman went back inside the bank to investigate. First he inspected the pedestal that the Emerald Leaf was had been on. It was a round grey column with decorative vines wrapped around it. There were lots of pieces of glass laying around it. Batman scanned the glass using one of his scanner gadgets built into his gauntlet. After about thirty seconds a voice coming from a small speaker built into his mask said, shattered glass, no chemical residue found. So this person must've been strong, or had a weapon. That narrowed out Poison Ivy, whom Batman had suspected, due to the Emerald Leaf being the item stolen.

After doing another brief search and finding nothing, Batman imagined Tike doing it. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was missing something. Then it hit him. The Security cameras, Tike couldn't have done it, or at least by himself, because the security cameras were down. He ran right up to the security camera. After scanning that, he found that the camera itself was working properly.

Next he went upstairs to the control room. Batman had a computer program that could figure out what was the flaw in a computer. He inserted a flash drive into the computer. After a couple minutes of scanning, the program found the problem. A virus had been inserted into the computer through a second flash drive. And to Batman's surprise, the bad flash drive was still there. He felt like whoever had done it was mocking him, because the flash drive had the word virus written on it, as well as a skull and cross bones symbol. Someone could've easily inserted the flash drive and just like that the systems would be down.

Batman was so excited in finding this that he didn't see the door behind him slowly opening and a grim face peering in. Batman realized that after a few brief scans he could restore the video footage and see what had really happened. But something was wrong. Not about the case, about the room right now. Something was different. All of a sudden Batman saw the shadow of a man raising a weapon on the floor. Batman quickly turned his chair but it was too late. POW! Something hard hit him square on the head. All he could remember was seeing the face of the real crook. Then everything went blank. When he woke up he was in the Batcave. Alfred was dusting off the Batcomputer.

"Alfred, what happened?"

"Oh good, you're awake. Master Dick found you lying unconscious in the control room at the museum. You had a bump on your head. You kept muttering something. What was it? Oh yes. You kept repeating; the real crook, the real crook."

Suddenly Batman remembered thinking that he knew who the real crook was. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't remember who it was. The hit on the head must have made him lose that memory. And something was still nagging at him. It was something about Tike Foli breaking through the glass, and leaving the emerald leaf in the bush. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Computer, he said at last. Search history of a man named Tike Foli, resident of Gotham city. After about thirty seconds the computer said

"I can't find anyone named Tike Foli. Would you like me to try Tiker Foliage?" said the cool male voice of the computer,

Of course, now he knew why that name sounded familiar. And then he remembered. Once while he was chasing Poison Ivy on foot through a local neighborhood, Ivy ran into someone's garden. Someone was in the garden planting some seeds, and as Ivy ran by, he stuck his leg out, tripping her. Ivy fell into the wet dirt, and Batman caught up with her, and tied her up. Then the police showed up. But after Batman had tied Ivy up, he asked the man what his name was. And he had replied, Tiker Foliage. As Batman recalled this, something came to mind. All of the sudden it was like someone had just shown a bright light in a dark room in his mind. And he understood everything, even why the Emerald leaf looked so perfect.

"Alfred," he shouted. "Where's Nightwing?"

"Why, he's at the police station with that new detective. I think his name is Cun N Drum."

"Cun N Drum? _Conundrum!_ Oh no."

Nightwing had just made the connection himself that the man's name sounded like conundrum, a synonym for a mystery, or an enigma.

"You," he shouted. "Security!" He grabbed for his Escrima sticks. But it was too late. Mr. Drum picked up his umbrella and hit Nightwing in the gut with it. The umbrella was surprisingly heavy. Nightwing fell to the floor, and Mr. Drum ran for the exit to the police station. He got into his car, but when he got in it he heard a gruff voice say:

"Hello Riddler."

Batman, kicked Riddler from the back seat where he was sitting. Riddler slammed into the steering wheel, but quickly recovered and turned to Batman. The Latex on his face was smeared from the hard kick, and he looked more recognizable.

"I was wondering when you'd figure it out."

"Poison Ivy hired you, didn't she? She hired you and that guard to frame that Tiker to get revenge on tripping her. So you had that guard stick the flash drive into the computer, causing it to wipe out. Then he went downstairs and smashed the glass while you ran out from your hiding place and, wearing muscle pads to make yourself look buffer, ran into the main room, smashed the glass around the emerald leaf, and hid it in your car. Meanwhile, you had already planted the fake Emerald leaf and black cloths in the bushes, framing Tike. Then you disguised yourself as that detective named Cun Drum, who was probably you all along, and pretended to investigate. It was a great plan.

But there were a couple flaws that gave you away. First, why would Tiker Smash through the glass when the door was open? He wouldn't, but you did that so that the police would investigate and find the emerald leaf. I'm not quite sure how you did it, probably using a controlled sonic blast, but no matter. And also, why would Tiker need to shut down the security cameras. He had a mask. The only reason was to distract the other guards so that they couldn't overpower you. Another clue was that you, being you, had to show off your brain by solving the test so quickly. That seemed a little out of the ordinary. Then when I was onto your trail you followed me and hit me with that staff, knocking me out, and making me forget seeing your face. But the biggest thing that gave you away was the fact that your idiot associate smashed the glass from the inside, leaving the glass on the outside. If Tiker had actually broken through the glass he would've smashed from the outside leaving the glass on the inside!

"Curse that dimwit," shouted the Riddler. "But please continue. I enjoy hearing you intellect."

"So anyway," continued Batman. "The fake Emerald Leaf was perfect, a little too perfect. It should've had some scrapes from the glass, or dirt, or something, but it looked like someone had carefully and neatly placed it there, not shoved it there in a hurry and then ran off. You would then give the real one to poison ivy.

Yes, you are exactly right Old B M. Now riddle me this. What can go up a chimney up, and down a chimney down, but not down a chimney up, or up a chimney down?

"An umbrella"

"Correct!"

The Riddler hit Batman with his umbrella, which had his gold question mark staff under it. But it was too late. Batman had been making a recording of Riddler confirming Batman's theory, which was as good as a confession. Batman had already sent the recording he had made to the police station. As Riddler continued attacking Batman, Police sirens blared.

"Ugh, you win this time Bats" said the Riddler as police officers dragged the riddler into a transport van." But riddle me this. What . . . " Just then the police officers shut the doors to the transport van that they had dragged Riddler into.

"Wait," shouted Riddler. "I'm not done riddling!"

The van drove off as Nightwing came out of the police station, still hurt from that blow to the gut.

Batman and Nightwing drove back to the van for a good Night's sleep. . . which lasted about twenty minutes. The Batcomputer shouted;

"EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!"

"Oh boy," said Nightwing. "Here we go again"

The End.


End file.
